The Dangers of a Curious Mind
by AlgedonicHeart
Summary: In a fairy-tale like setting, a young boy named L Lawliet is raised with a fear of a cave in the woods surrounding his house. When L's siblings A and B vanish forever in its cold depths, an irrepressible curiosity is lit in the boy. After years of careful research, L is determined to learn about the monsters in the cave. However, some things are better left in the dark.


Once upon a time, there was a curious boy named L. Now, when I say 'curious', I mean it both as the fact that he was a very odd child and that he was a child that sought answers. The house he grew up in was one that was very much oriented towards logic and problem-solving, so L's propensity for seeking answer was shared.

L's household shared something other than that, though. Wammy's House, the home he grew up in, was in a very remote part of the land they inhabited, in the middle of what many assumed to be an enchanted wood, and there was a cave not far from Wammy's House. This cave was explicitly forbidden from L and the younger children, Matt, Mello, and Near. Despite their inquisitive nature, this was one secret that the children had learned not to question. After all, Beyond had ignored the warning laid down by Roger and Wammy, their caretakers, and had gone in anyway with Always and neither had ever come out. L had almost gone with them, because he was just as curious as them, but had fallen ill at the last moment and had to stay. Curiosity still ate away at him, though, and L was very tempted to inspect the cave anyway. One thing stopped him, and that was when B and A had gone missing…

Wammy had cried for days.

So L waited. After all, when A and B had gone missing, L was only eight years old. He could wait until he was bigger and wiser to try and take down what had stolen his pseudo-siblings from him. A part of him even naively believed that perhaps both Always and Beyond were still alive, and that he could save them. So while he waited, he researched. Wammy and Roger had never said anything other than that the cave was incredibly dangerous, that there were beasts in there that should never be disturbed. But L wanted to know what kind of beasts. Were they scary, monstrous ones that were inhuman and ate curious little children? Were they eerie, terrifying beasts that did worse than tear the flesh from your bones? Were they human beasts, like bandits and murderers that hid there and did unspeakable things to the unfortunate people that wandered into their territory?

Wammy wouldn't answer, nor would Roger, so L went to the town outside of the forest they lived in. He resolved to ask one person per year, on the first day of summer, and when he felt satisfied with what he learned, he would go inside the cave. He would ask one person a year so as to refrain from rushing himself and going too early, but he would squeeze every bit of information he could out of each visit.

The first person that he visited was Mogi Kanzo. L decided on Mogi because he knew the man. He occasionally helped Wammy carry heavier stuff when Wammy was inventing. He was a nice, if very silent man. When L knocked on the door, Mogi answered with a smile, pleased to see one of Wammy's little genii.

"L!" he greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to ask you if you know anything about the cave near Wammy house," L told him bluntly. Mogi's smile dropped off his face so quickly that it shocked L completely. His shoulders instantly tightened, and old exhaustion etched its way onto the kind man's face.

"Is this about Always and Beyond?" he asked tiredly, eyes dull. L eyed him suspiciously.

"Partially. Mainly, however, I am simply curious. Mogi, how did B and A die?"

Mogi licked his lips nervously, eyes horribly sad. "If they were lucky, they got lost and starved. Now, please go home L, or I'll have to call Wammy to come pick you up in his carriage."

"What?" L protested, heart aching at the thought of B and A dying such cruel deaths, and Mogi daring to say that was the better option. "But you didn't tell me anything!"

"And I won't tell you anymore!" Mogi said, his voice unusually sharp. L quieted, wondering what had the older man so out of sorts.

"That cave is a horrible, cursed place, L. No one here likes to talk about it," Mogi sighed. "Try talking to someone else. Maybe they can help you. I won't. Not about that cave."

And he shut the door. Disappointed, L trudged home slowly.

* * *

The next year, L followed Mogi's advice and went to a man named Aizawa Shuichi. He was a family man, so L reasoned that meant that he had probably warned his children from the cave too, and surely that meant he knew about it. When he knocked on Aizawa's door, the man looked quite stunned to see him. "Who are you, kid?" he asked. "Where are your parents?"

"Dead," replied L blandly. "May I ask you some questions?"

Looking hesitant, Aizawa joined him on the steps. "Sure, kid. Let's stay out here. What do you want to know?"

"Do you know about the cave in the woods?" L said, getting right to the point. Aizawa shuddered, clenching his fists.

"Why do you want to know about the place?" he asked sharply. _His tone is angry, but his eyes are sad_, L noticed clinically. _He is stiff and tense. He knows about what I'm asking, but isn't going to want to share that knowledge. He recently married, and had a daughter even more recently. If I explain that I intend to put myself in danger, he won't want to tell me anything. What can I say to make him tell me what I want to know?_

"My little brother Mello," L said, black eyes probing beneath a mask of flatness. "He wants to go explore it. I'm trying to find out history about it so as to keep him from going in."

Aizawa relaxed slightly. "Can't you just tell him to stay out of it and be done with it?"

L shook his head, smiling wryly. "If only it was that easy."

Aizawa sighed, but his posture was open now. He would share at least some information. "I suppose I could tell you a little bit about its beginning. That cave wasn't always a forbidden place, you know."

L's eyes widened. "Truly?"

Aizawa nodded. "Yes, in fact, it was actually pretty recently that It happened. He was probably about your age…" He trailed off distantly, that aching sadness back in his eyes, his posture reminiscent of a man long defeated, but with a wound still fresh. L's curiosity was ignited.

"Who?"

Aizawa shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He's- dead now. About ten years ago, there was… an incident."

Aizawa's speech was interrupted by awkward pauses and silences, and L realized that there was a lot that Aizawa was leaving out.

"I couldn't tell you what happened. I don't know what truly happened myself. Just know that it resulted in the death of someone whose life should have never been extinguished and shook this place head to toe. Know that the death of that someone created a monster that should have been killed, but… how could we have killed him when we knew…?"

"Your cryptic words aren't helping me much," L told him frankly. Aizawa laughed unhappily. "Kid, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone truly ready to talk about that disaster. The soul of this town died that day, and it's never been the same since."

L tried to repress his frustration, but he was a nine year old, and he sure it showed very clearly on his face. "Can you tell me what kind of monster was created? I'm assuming it is the one in the cave."

Aizawa nodded. "Yes, and the kind of monster…? Most would call him a human monster, but those of us who knew him disagreed. He wore the face of a human, but it was always just a mask."

When L left, deeply unsatisfied, Aizawa stayed sitting on the porch a long time. When his wife returned, he was crying.

* * *

Another year passed, and L returned to town once again, telling Wammy that he was going to the library. He went straight to Touta Matsuda's house. Matsuda was a young man with great intentions and a sunny disposition. L hoped that this meant that he would be more willing to talk about it than the rest of the town seemed to be. When he knocked on the door, Matsuda opened the door with a grin that faded slightly when he saw who was on his porch.

"You're that kid, aren't you?" he asked. "The one asking all the questions about Kira."

L's heart jolted. A name. That was more than he'd gotten in the past two years. "Kira? Who, or what, I suppose, is that?"

Matsuda sighed heavily and opened his door. "Why don't you come in? I have cookies."

L was past the man before Matsuda could say anymore. The young man laughed as he followed. "Do you have a bit of a sweet tooth?"

"You have no idea," L replied breathlessly as he waited impatiently on the couch in the living room Matsuda had gestured to. His grin was triumphant when Matsuda placed a platter full of cookies in front of him. Ever since talking to Aizawa last year, L couldn't stomach bitter foods, and the only thing he cared to eat involved large quantities of sugar. L didn't really know why. He thought it might have something to do with the way the sadness he had never noticed before, the sadness the blanketed the town, left a horrible taste in his mouth now, all of the time.

Matsuda smiled at his enthusiasm, but it was tinged with that inescapably sad air all of the other people had borne, too.

"Kira?" L prompted, mouth full of cookie. Matsuda's shoulders slumped, the light in his eyes dimming. Unlike Aizawa, who had looked like mentions of the cave injured something deep inside of him, Matsuda's posture was that of a man who felt nauseous, his body language screaming it, down to the slight hunch, the barest curl of a lip, and the deep-seated misery in every line of his body.

"A monster," he answered wearily. "A demon that possessed the best and brightest of us all and sacrificed him to bring us to our knees."

"Was he an actual demon, or a metaphorical one?" L asked swiftly, eyes flicking across the man to read for any hint of a lie. There were none.

"A real one," Matsuda said, voice filled with self-loathing as he stared down at hid trembling hands. "One we were all too blind to see until-"

His voice was choked off by sobs. "Please, leave," he whispered as his shoulders shook. "Please, just- just leave here."

L, shaken by the extreme display of emotion, acquiesced without another word, taking a few cookies as he left. That summer, as L waited for his eleventh birthday to roll around, he sat in the field that the cave was in, just watching the pitch black entrance with eyes the same color that never wavered. He found it was the easiest place for him to sleep, despite the horror stories that he'd heard. Sometimes, when he was on the verge of falling asleep, and was closer to the mouth of the cave than he probably should be, he felt eyes watching him. Once, he felt hands run through his hair. After that, he stopped sleeping there, even if it meant that he started sleeping only an hour a night. Wammy worried about the insomnia, but L couldn't explain it. How could he tell Wammy that he couldn't sleep when he didn't feel the Eyes watching him?

* * *

The next time L went to town, he went with some of the late Mrs. Wammy's jewels lining his pockets. He didn't feel guilty. He took the ones Wammy had said she hated. He went to Wedy's store. Wedy had moved to town after the Kira Incident, but he knew that for the right price, she would have no problem telling a child what no one else would. When he walked in, she arched one blonde eyebrow.

"This isn't a toy store," she pointed out. L nodded and took the pearls and garnets out of his pockets. A second eyebrow joined the first.

"You want some pocket money or something?" she said flatly. L shook his head. "I want some questions answered."

She held up one of the garnets to the light. Satisfied with the quality, she set it down. "I'll do my best, but if I can't answer your questions thoroughly, do I get them anyway?"

L nodded, hope rising in his chest. Perhaps this wouldn't be a dead end.

"What do you want to know that you're trading gems for?" she asked.

"What do you know about the Kira Incident and the cave in the woods?" he asked immediately. She whistled from between full, red painted lips, leaning back on her heels.

"Straight to the juicy stuff, huh?" she asked rhetorically. "I'm sorry to say, kid, that's one of the things I don't know much about. Everyone in this town holds tighter to that secret than most nouveau-riche hold to their gold. I'll answer what I can, and make up for what I don't know by teaching you a few skills of my old trade, how's that?"

L sighed and asked, deadpan, "Thievery?"

She smiled crookedly. "Never know when it'll save your life. Do you have any specific questions?"

L's frustration was palpable, but he knew she was telling the truth. "No. Do you know anything?"

"Sure," she replied. "There was a whole lot of anger and accusations flying all over the town, over the pettiest stuff, but for some reason, everyone was incensed. It ended in the death of a kid. A kid that was buried in the cave, and bad stuff has happened there ever since."

"Who?" L asked desperately. " Who was the child?"

He didn't like the shaded glasses she wore. They hid too much of her face. He couldn't read her correctly.

"Light," she said finally. "His name was Yagami Light. I'd talk to his dad, the town's entire justice system, Yagami Soichiro. Maybe he'll tell you what I could never seduce out of him. I hate faithful husbands…"

"Thank you, Wedy," L said, mind racing. She smiled at him.

"Sure, kid. Now, the first rule to pickpocketing…"

* * *

Wammy started worrying about L that summer. He cornered L at dinner and asked, "L, what's going on with you?"

L stopped playing with the food on his plate, looking at his beloved caretaker with black eyes made eerie by the rings that had recently been appearing darker and darker. Mello teased he would look like a panda soon.

"What do you mean?" he replied quietly. Roger, Near, Matt, and Mello were staring between the two, the tension in the room suddenly spiking.

"I mean last summer you started vanishing for hours at a time, and when that stopped, you picked up this habit of not sleeping. The summer before that, you started eating sweets and have eaten nothing but that since then. And ever since the… deaths of Always and Beyond, you've gone to town every first day of summer. I've been letting it happen, but I'm worried, L."

L looked down again. "Don't be."

He said nothing more. What could he say?

"And these habits?" Wammy prodded, face tight with apprehension and love. "I worry about you, L."

L shrugged helplessly, trying to smile reassuringly in his own awkward way. "Merely quirks, Wammy. Just leave it, please."

Wammy sighed, but resumed eating once more.

When L went to town the summer day before his thirteenth birthday, he was resolved for it to be his last. If the father of the boy who had died wouldn't answer his questions, who else could L ask? And if he did, L would finally feel prepared enough to go in the cave to sort out everything himself. His breath was loose in his chest as he neared the Yagami household, his heart palpitating excitedly. This was it. He would talk to Yagami Soichiro, and no matter what he learned, he would enter the cave on the day of his birth.

His hand trembled slightly as he knocked.

After a few moments, a young girl with bright brown eyes opened the door. When she saw him, she called, "Mommy! Daddy! There's a boy here!"

She turned to L with a smile. "Hi," she said. She had to be at least five years younger than him. Two figures appeared over her shoulder; a woman who looked too young to have the amount of wrinkles she did and a man who, similarly, didn't look old enough for the gray in his hair. The melancholy in their eyes called to L. Those were indeed the eyes of parents who had lost a child. L should know. After all, Wammy had lost his daughter and two grandchildren.

"Hello," he greeted respectfully. "My name is L. I came to ask about the cave in the woods."

Without a word, the mother Yagami took her daughter's hand and led her off. As the girl vanished deeper in the house with her mother, L heard the girl whisper, "Mommy, he talked about the place we're not 'posed to talk about."

"Hush, sweetie," she murmured back. "Let's continue making our bread."

"You're that Wammy's child, aren't you?" Soichiro asked, voice low with sadness and heavy with exhaustion as he scratched at his left forearm. "The one who comes once a year to ask one question of one townsperson."

"Indeed," L said with a nod. "I see I have gained a reputation."

Soichiro laughed hollowly. "I suppose. What do you want to know, L Wammy?"

"L Lawliet, actually," L corrected. "I want to know what happened to Light. I want to know what happened in this town almost thirteen years ago. I want to know why no one comes out of that cave alive."

Soichiro sighed and exited to sit by L, once more itching at his arm. "Those are some heavy questions."

"So I've realized," L said dryly. Soichiro looked up at the sky, gray with clouds before starting slowly.

"My son Light was a genius," Soichiro started. "There was no one in the land greater than my child, and I'm not just saying that. Light was simply perfect. The most beautiful child, with eyes as gold as the sun, the smartest, the politest, the funniest, the best at sports and games- he couldn't be beat."

L thought that this Light sounded rather unbearable, but he had to factor in that he was dead. It was possible that Soichiro was exaggerating through nostalgia.

"When he was nine years old, something happened. I've thought over it countless time, but I've never been able to figure out… Anyway, he changed. It was subtle, and none of us noticed it until after it was all over, after he was k-killed. But whatever happened, it warped him. It took his purity and twisted it until all that was left was this… this thing, and none of us even noticed. He started _manipulating_ us. He would do simply horrid things, and frame someone else. Most of the time, the people framed honestly believed that they had done it, he played us all so expertly."

"Horrid like what?" L interrupted as a strange shiver went up his spine. Soichiro's face was blank as his fingers once more moved to his left arm.

"At first, he destroyed property and stole valuables. Then, he started killing animals in gruesome, violent ways. Finally, he started tormenting the townspeople."

Soichiro swallowed reflexively. "He would slip medicines into people's food that made them sleep deeply, and while they slept, he carved words into them. It was always the same word, no matter how many times it was repeated."

"_Kira,"_ L whispered. Soichiro nodded jerkily.

"No one knows what it means," Soichiro whispered. L's eyes were focused on Soichiro's left forearm. The man, seeing his gaze, rolled his sleeve up slowly. In thick, ropy pink scars was the word, or perhaps, name. _Kira._ Soichiro resumed his story.

"There was a young girl. Her name was Misa Amane, and she was convinced that she would grow up and marry Light. A month after Light changed, a week after he had started carving, she went missing. A week later, she was found nearly dead near the mouth of the cave. Her eyes had been plucked cleanly out, and on each lid, Light had cut the word 'death'. When we found her, she was feverish, smiling deliriously. She kept talking about she had 'made the trade', that with her 'eyes of death' she could help him, that she would be useful and he would finally like her."

L felt sick. Soichiro's jaw was tight.

"That was when someone finally figured out Light was behind it. Her name was Rem, and she was Misa's best friend. She was a strange child. She lived on her own, and her hair and skin was unnaturally white. The only color she had was her yellow eyes, and she'd always hated Light for taking Misa's attention away from her. As it was, that meant that she was the only one unbiased enough to see the truth. She confronted him in the middle of town."

Tears started leaking from behind his glasses. "She called him a monster, a demon, all manner of horrible things. She told him of all the evidence she had compiled against him, blamed him for all of the hatred rotting the town. He didn't reply. He just watched her with wide, shocked eyes, looking so incredibly _hurt_ by her accusations. When we moved to stop her, she called one last thing. She looked him dead in the eye, spat on the ground, and hissed, '_Kira.'_"

L could see it in his mind, as clearly as if he had been there.

"Light flew into a rage like nothing we've ever seen. His entire face changed with his sneer, his fingers seemed to turn to claws, and his eyes nearly glowed red. He attacked her brutally with his bare hands, clawing off her skin and beating her ruthlessly. 'Don't call me that!' he screamed it at her. He was just shrieking as he attacked her. 'I'm not him!' We were too stunned to stop him at first. Then, he hit her ribs and we all heard the crack. Aizawa, Matsuda, and Mogi are all carried guns. They all shot."

L winced. He could just see it, the beautiful child, faceless in his mind, his chest torn to pieces as lead was shot through it. Soichiro's next few words were broken by slight sobs.

"H-He died instantly. We b-buried him in the cave. It was to be his t-tomb. Misa went to visit him. She never came back. Her parents and Rem followed, and they v-vanished too. Rem's brother Ryuk was the last to go in. He was the only one to come back out, but he was changed. A grin had been carved into his face, he had been blinded, and his mind... He wouldn't tell anyone what happened, what hurt him and what turned him… wrong. On the subject, all he'd say is to 'leave Light-o alone. He'll come out when he's good and ready.' And then he laughed and laughed and laughed and wouldn't say anything more."

"Where does he live?" L asked quietly. Soichiro shook his head.

"He's gone now. Moved away? Maybe. Dead? Far more likely."

"One last question," L said slowly. "Matsuda spoke of Kira as if it was a sentient creature. A demon."

Soichiro nodded sadly. "He, along with half of the town, doesn't believe that Light could have done those things of his own volition. They think he was possessed by a demon, by Kira."

"And what do you think?" L asked curiously. Soichiro shook his head.

"I just don't know."

L nodded slowly. "I see. Thank you for your time. I'll be leaving now."

Soichiro nodded, standing slowly, painfully. "Very well. Promise me one thing, though. Promise you won't go searching in that cave."

L looked dead in his eye and lied, "Of course not."

Soichiro looked infinitely relieved. "Thank you, L."

* * *

L found that he couldn't breathe as he stared in to the mouth of the cave that led to Light. He didn't know what to expect. The demon Kira, maybe? The body of a young boy, rotted away with the years? Perhaps bandits who used the legends surrounding the cave to ensure few entered it? He forced himself to take a deep breath. The air around the front of the cave tasted damp and musty. His hand tightened convulsively around the few things he had brought with him- Wammy's pistol, a flashlight, and some of Mello's emergency chocolate supply.

A strong wind blew, ruffling his dark hair around his pale, sickly-looking face and he was reminded of the last time he'd slept here, when he'd felt that hand gently comb through his hair. He shuddered, eyes drifting closed at the phantom feeling the memory brought. After a second, his dark eyes snapped open and he determinedly stepped forward into the cave, which was really more like a burrow, or a hole in the ground. Either way, as soon as he passed the rocks at the mouth of the cave, all of the hairs on his body stood on end, and his heartbeat stuttered.

L lifted one of the chocolate bars to his face, unwrapped it, and chomped at it viciously, mashing it to a pulp before swallowing the godly substance. He stepped forward again. Wind wailed outside, creating an eerie sound like moaning. L stepped forward again, and all sound was cut off. He couldn't hear a thing but his own slightly heavy breathing. He turned around to see the exit and saw leaves dancing furiously in wind he couldn't hear. Explanations whirled through his mind.

_I must have stepped into a zone where it's impossible for sound to reach easily_, he reasoned._ Like in some houses there are certain places that are excellent for eavesdropping, only in reverse. There's a perfectly rational reason for this._

He faced forward again and set off. The cave walls, made of dirt, were growing narrower and the ceiling lower, and the back of L's neck started prickling. Suddenly, he knew without a doubt that there was _something behind him._ He _knew_ it, he could feel it, just _looming over him_. He didn't turn around. L suspected that it was merely his nerves setting off false alarms, but he wouldn't turn to check, because what if he checked and something really was there? No, he would stay ignorant, and later would be able to laugh at himself for thinking there was something behind him.

He kept walking, keeping his pace even. He would not betray himself by quickening, no matter how much his instincts screamed at him to just run. It was proven- if prey ran, predators chased. If he didn't run, whatever absolutely _wasn't_ behind him, because it was all in his head, wouldn't chase. Simple logic.

Eventually, as the walls grew tighter and tighter, the feeling faded, leaving just an ebbing feeling of alarm pulsing in his gut. L stopped, taking a deep, calming breath. _See?_ He told himself. _Nothing was following you. It was all in your head. Just your… is that water ahead of me?_

Hesitantly, he clicked on the flashlight, illuminating the tunnel. Sand motes swirled in the air, and he saw a few spiders scurry up the wall or across the floor. In what appeared to be dried, crusty blood, the word 'KIRA' coated the walls and the ceiling, often overlapping, repeating over and over again in varying sizes.

L swallowed hard and looked forward. Indeed, water lapped at the ground at the very edge of his flashlight's beam. Cautiously, he edged forward while trying to ignore his surroundings, noticing that the closer he got to the water, the more the tunnel opened and the brighter it got. Also, the more he felt the need to just run. Turn around and run and not stop until he was under the quilts on top of his bed.

When he was at the water's edge, he realized that the tunnel opened to a large room, a room that had a skylight filtering sunlight into the cave. L clicked off the flashlight. He didn't need it anymore.

_Run, L… Run… L, run…!_

L frowned as the soft whispers drifted past his ear. _How odd,_ he thought firmly. _The wind entering from the skylight makes the strangest sounds._

Carefully, he touched the water with one bare foot. He hated shoes, and he refused to wear them. The action, as small as it was, made a ripple. L watched the ripples progress, knowing that if there was anything he couldn't see, he would at least see the ripple bounce back as it was blocked by an object- there! About ten feet in front of him, parts of the ripple moved back, and-

Something was moving in the water.

_Run, L! Run! Run!_

The thing moved closer to L, who wasn't breathing, and as he watched, more of it was revealed. L watched with a mix of fascination and horror as a small body walked out of the water towards him. He could see it clearly. It wasn't wet at all. Completely dry hair the color of melted caramel surrounded a delicate, beautiful face with a button nose and full, cherubic lips. A white burial shroud encased the child's body and legs, long for a child, walked easily towards him.

The eyes were closed, black lashes visible even from a few feet away fanning across the round cheeks. The thing, the child, stopped only when it was close enough to touch L. It, he, _Light_ tilted his face up as if to meet L's eyes, but his own were still gently closed.

L didn't want Light's eyes to open. He didn't know why. He just felt deep inside that something terrible would happen if those eyes opened.

Swallowing hard, he shakily opened the chocolate bar he hadn't yet eaten. Light's brow creased slightly at the sound, his head tilting to the side curiously. L lifted the chocolate slightly.

"Would you like some chocolate?" he asked quietly. His voice sounded strange. It was hoarse, and oddly low. A small smile curved Light's full lips and his hands reached out, wrapping around L's. L fought not to stiffen up. Light's hands were hard and _cold._ _Dead_, a voice in his mind supplied detachedly. _His hands are dead._

Light lifted his hands, L's, and the chocolate to his mouth, which opened slowly. L didn't know what he was expecting to see inside Light's mouth. Fangs? Dripping poison? Maggots? Whatever he'd been bracing himself for, Light's mouth _seemed_ to be normal as he carefully bit off a chunk of chocolate. Sudden movement behind Light distracted L, and L's stomach squirmed with a mixture of nausea and terror as he realized that _more_ bodies were rising in the water behind Light.

A young girl with blonde hair and bedraggled piggy-tails hanging wetly around her face. _That must be Misa Amane._

Another young girl, this one with white hair that hung limply to her shoulder. _And Rem._

A tall figure with wild black hair and gangly limbs, a smile carved on his face. _And Ryuk…_

Two adults, one female, one male. _Misa's parents, too. This is…_

These bodies weren't like Light's, pristine and untouched. Their flesh was rotted and bloated. They were naked, and their eyes were all wide open, staring blindly ahead.

Their eyes were all glowing bright, arterial red.

As much as the sight scared the thirteen year old, L couldn't see B and A, and for that, he felt a powerful surge of relief.

Light hummed in satisfaction, and L's black eyes turned to the young child in front of him once more. Light's voice was as clear as a bell, as sweet as honey, and it occurred to L for the first time that perhaps Soichiro hadn't been exaggerating Light's virtues.

Light's eyes fluttered slowly, as if he was going to open them. L acted on instinct, and one of his hands covered Light's eyes gently. He felt Light's eyes open beneath his palm and fingers and familiar curiosity ate away at him. Were Light's eyes golden, like Soichiro had said? Or were they the demonic red of the bodies behind Light? More than that though, L wondered, should Light look at him, would he recognize that feeling of the Eyes, Light's eyes, on him from sleeping in front of this cave those years back?

_L, run! Turn around and run!_

Light was smiling. It was eerie and unnatural, seeming to stretch way too far across his face and his hands reached up, his fingers wrapping around L's bony wrist. L didn't move. He felt Light's eyes flicker shut again and Light only then moved his hand away from his eyes, but he didn't release L's hand. His lips parted and he whispered-

"_Run."_

And all of the bodies behind Light lunged towards L. L turned and ran, Light running with him, still hanging on to his hand. L clutched to his hand even as he ran from the boy, the monster and his pets, Light keeping pace effortlessly. L could hear hysterical laughter behind him, and he was reminded of Soichiro explaining that Ryuk had been driven insane. L ran faster, cursing his diet and sleeping habits, but he could see the tunnel entrance ahead, twenty feet away, fifteen feet away, ten feet away, eight feet away…

Light suddenly came to a halt, and L was forced to a stop, too, unable to keep up with Light's strength.

"Light!" he called desperately as he saw the others catching up. "_Please!"_

Light's eyes flew open. His eyes weren't golden. They were bright, apple red.

The bodies all froze.

"No," he said calmly. "Stay. Here with me, stay."

L stared at him for a second, panting. He highly suspected that staying meant death, and he wanted to scream that he couldn't, that if he did Wammy would cry again and feel like he had failed his goddaughter, L's mother, even more. He also suspected telling Light no was a bad idea.

"And do what?" he asked, trying his best to keep his voice even and soft. Light's hand tightened, those horrifying red eyes fixed on Light's black ones.

"Play with me," he said with a smile. L's fist convulsed around Wammy's pistol.

"If I stay here, will what happened to Misa and Rem and everyone else happen to me?" L asked slowly. Light cocked his head to one side.

"Will I kill you? Of course," he answered, puzzled. "How else would we play? No one else is smart enough to play with me, so I kill them and play with them. It's a small distinction, but highly important. It's much more fun to play with myself with nice toys than be forced to play the games of the ignorant with the ignorant."

L swallowed. That was a very bad attitude right there, and one that didn't sound good for his chances of survival.

"What if I was smart enough to play with you?" L asked, forcibly calm. Light scoffed.

"You're not as smart as me. No one is. My father said so."

L took a moment to curse Soichiro Yagami soundly, using words that Wammy would wash his mouth out with soap if he heard.

"Doesn't that mean you're smarter than your father?" L tried. "So couldn't you decide that I was smart enough to play with you?"

Light took a moment to contemplate that before his creepy smile returned. "You're right, L Lawliet! That means that if I let you go, you'll come back every day to play with me. If you don't and you try to hide, that means you're not very smart, and I'll kill you and play with your carcass. Does that sound fair?"

"What if I get sick and can't come?" L countered, starting to control the panic that was choking him even as he wondered how Light knew his name. Light thought about that.

"Then make your parents carry you here so that you can show me you're in no condition to play. Don't try and talk your way out of this, L Lawliet. You will visit me every day and keep me entertained, or your life is mine."

"Very well," L answered, seeing no other way. He had a feeling Wammy's pistol would be ineffectual, and he didn't care to try his luck and end up with a furious Light Yagami if he was right.

Light smiled at him brightly. "Good! You know, you look a lot like a boy who came in here a few years ago."

L's heart stuttered in his chest. He and Beyond had always been told that they could have passed for twins.

"Oh?" he croaked. "What happened to him?"

Light's smile was angelic. "I ate him and his friend the second I saw them. It's just that I always get so _hungry_ when I see people up close."

_fini_


End file.
